chapter 16 blog

Tonight I made a bold decision, that I'm hoping is not a huge mistake. I'm scrapping most of the submission work I've done this month and just giving myself some breathing room to focus on the deadlines I'd like to meet in September.

I've been working really hard on anthology submissions all through August, and so far I haven't made a single deadline. I started out behind this month because I took July off from submissions and ever since then I've just felt panicked. I've been finishing my rough drafts just a couple days before the deadlines and that's not leaving me enough time to comb through and edit and polish my submissions to a quality I feel comfortable submitting. So far I've let 4 deadlines come and go and all I've accomplished is stressing myself out.

I have a handful of stories started for anthologies that are closing submissions on the 31st, and I'm putting a pin in every single one of them. Some look perfect for me. Some I want to be in desperately. I'm not letting those things be a factor. If I want to actually stand a hope at acceptance, I need to be able to stand behind my work and that's not going to happen with the stuff I've been doing lately.

I have three submission leads coming up in September, and I'm going to focus all my attention on polishing up those. That's not a ridiculous number, and will hopefully be more manageable than what I've been trying to do this last month. Then with any luck I'll have some time to get back to basics, work on stories I feel like working on, and finishing my portfolio site.

Thank you guys for reading and for bearing with me. I'm going through a rough patch, but I'll get back on the ball eventually. I hope.

(This was supposed to be a play on the term "Krampusnacht" but I'm feeling really insecure about whether or not people will get it. I'm far too tired to attempt cleverness.)

There aren't really a lot of updates for me to give you...which I guess is why I haven't been on. Today I missed the deadline for a Krampus story that I've been working on all summer, and that kind of sucked. The story wasn't really going anywhere so it's good I didn't submit but it is sad.

My productivity hasn't been the best lately. I think I know why but I'm not really going to get into it.

In any case, I'm going to put good old Krampus back on the shelf for now and see if I can't write something worthwhile for a different anthology or zine or site or something. It's worth a shot, right?

I have been really terrible updates, for which I apologize. This does not however mean that I have been idle.

In the past month since I have been writing like crazy, working on short stories to be considered for various horror zines and anthologies, promoting stuff and networking. I also entered a ton of contests and worked on some really exciting exercises.

It was a crazy month, but I got through it and I feel pretty good. Now it's time to, well, keep at it I suppose - but also to do a better job keeping you guys updated about how it's going.

On the agenda for tonight I'm going to do a little project research for a Krampus-related story I'm working on, edit the comic script for this month's issue of Toxic Bubblegum, and see if I can't get a little portfolio work done after that.

Thank you guys for reading and for bearing with me through these long and unexpected absences.